I'd Take Out The Night Sky to See You Clearer
by Atoms and Elements
Summary: When I love you, there's nothing so radiant, and all the things in between. AU; a more inclusive look on Naruto: no one is cisgender here.


_**A/N:**_** YO.**

/...\

_Ficlet _

**Third Person POV:**

When the cold weather swept into their lives, Sakura wasted no time in vocalizing her displeasure to any who would listen, and potentially even those who wouldn't. The winds did not sweep her voice away per se, but when the ire colored her words, it was found as a frosted blue rather than a pink or red glowing in her eyes. In those first few months, any who were familiar with the greater forces of the universe knew to steer clear of a winter-wrath driven Sakura Haruno.

"After we graduate, we are relocating to Hawaii," the pink-haired girl hissed through clenched teeth, two scarves wrapped around her neck—of differing widths—and from under the comfort of three layered sweaters. When her effort was not put to clenching or gnashing her pearly whites together, they clattered loudly against each other, alerting everyone in the vicinity of the café to her state of discomfort.

Beside her, with a paper-cup of green tea within their hands, Itachi hummed lightly before pushing her mug of hot chocolate closer to the miserable pre-med student. They took care never to disagree with the upset girl or contradict her words, remembering the state of Naruto's dorm room after a cold winter-induced rage had overtaken Sakura. The aforementioned girl inched closer to her cup, wrapping trembling fingers around the warm exterior and exhaling. Those around them looked about warily as Sakura's temper seemed to lighten up, finally feeling safe enough to return to their own drinks and conversations.

Several people shot them grateful and tight-lipped smiles but Itachi only responded with a fractional quirk of their lips, never truly bothering to acknowledge anyone but the girl to their side. They scraped their chair across the floor as they attempted to get closer to her, Itachi reached around back to snatch up their coat and throw it over Sakura's shoulders.

"You're an angel," Sakura mumbled blearily, taking a tiny sip of her hot drink and practically purring to herself as the sweetness of the cocoa coated her tongue with a new layer of warmth before slipping down her throat. Her partner smirked slightly, still flipping through the textbook in front of them and remaining mostly wordless, the bags under their eyes a tell-all to their state of rest.

"That'll be awhile," the dark-haired Uchiha replied without looking up, "You have another half year before medical school, followed subsequently by four plus years of that."

"We'll take a summer trip," she continued to mutter, mostly for her own sake, no longer so interested in taking notes so much as returning to their warm little nest of an apartment with all of its expensive fleece blankets and hot chocolate mix. Her thoughts turned away from MCAT studying to anything of the cozier variety which often including cuddling her sweetheart and sleeping for twenty hours straight. They hadn't spent nearly enough time with each other in recent weeks, Sakura having been preoccupied with finals for organic chemistry and her part-time job while Itachi couldn't be torn two feet away from their textbook if lectures on the intricacies of cytoskeletons were not involved or the promise of hot tea.

She glanced over at them briefly, expecting their eyes to still be lingering on the frail, yellowing pages, but instead their starless depths seemed intent on unraveling her. Sakura felt heat crawl up her cheeks until it was nestled right under her cheekbones, petal lips falling apart momentarily. With those sharp, fiercely intelligent eyes trained on her, none of the world mattered—not with its callous thoughts and realities that would blow her to smithereens—and if they'd asked of her a single thing, she would not have resisted for even a moment. Fortunately for her, Itachi was not that sort of person and much preferred simply the view.

"We can take as many summer trips as you'd like," they replied smoothly, "but until then, why don't we head back for now?" The suggestion was met with a vigorous nod from Sakura who immediately began packing up her belongings into the discoloured rucksack that smelt vaguely of sea salt, gulping down her hot chocolate all the while so as to finish it off before they left. Sighing to themselves, Itachi gently pried the mug from their girlfriend's reddening fingers and stood up before bringing it to the baristas behind the counter. They happily transferred the contents into a holiday-themed paper-cup, much like the one still at their table, green tea cooling even in the warm atmosphere of the café. Sakura blushed slightly at the sight she must've been.

She suppressed any further embarrassment and growled out upon their return, "I could've made some more at home." Itachi only smiled in agreement as they wrapped a woolen scarf around their neck, and then fretted over Sakura's own scarf for a handful of seconds. The green eyed girl rolled her eyes once in mock exasperation but allowed her partner to adjust her scarf this way and that until it was neatly tucked around her neck. The Uchiha nodded at their work approvingly.

"I am one warm girlfriend," Sakura babbled as the two of them shrugged on heavy coats and hats, "One toasty, cozy gee-eff, I will say." The bells on the café door jingled as they headed out into the falling snow and the rush of winter air on both of their collar bones when it managed to sneak under their scarves. In her peripheral vision, Sakura noticed her partner giving her an amused look, one where their lips quirked up with something softer than the atoms beneath her brow and something behind their onyx eyes crinkled affectionately. It wrinkled her heart along with it. Lifting a hand, Itachi placed it down gently onto Sakura's head and ruffled her pink hair until she whined for them to quit it.

"When we get home, I'll make you more hot chocolate," they promised, and their grin only grew more pronounced when Sakura launched herself at them and thanked them profusely with soft cheek kisses while clutching onto their arm. Around them, couples, friends, and those enjoying the weather on their own passed them by, occasionally sparing them a couple of quick glances that were often accompanied by convivial smiles and _'happy holiday'_ greetings. In a small college town, it was commonplace for strangers to at least remain pleasant with those they might see on a regular basis.

The two continued on their walk home in near silence, noticing only fleetingly when the delicate blue of the sky began to darken with the setting sun, clouds with orange boils and red underbellies shuntering off in another direction. Sakura did not loosen her grip on Itachi's arm, almost attempting to sap some of their warmth by pressuring her cheek against the frigid leather. The gesture did nothing, but when Itachi's head turned fractionally to press their lips against the top of her snow-dusted head, all was well and the universe could heal her from the inside out.

Glancing down at her own attire, Sakura felt something terrible build up inside of her upon realizing that she hadn't yet gotten around to shopping for a more feminine jacket. Winter had crept in wordlessly and slithered up their legs until it was all they could see for miles, robbing her of the opportunity to adequately prepare. Contrary to Itachi's upbringing—somewhere up in Canada, where winters were most definitely not in short supply—, Sakura had only ever known of summers all year round, with only a handful of autumn-like winters around late January. Because of that, she'd been forced to borrow one of Sasuke's extra coats and had been planning on visiting a or Anthropologie to shop around.

However, chemistry exams and physics lab reports weren't leaving her with enough room to breathe lately, and though Itachi insisted that they wouldn't mind accompanying her, Sakura knew it stressed them out to no end to be separated from their textbooks even momentarily. So with the heavy snowfall confining them to formless coats and leggings that pulled taut against her muscles calves and thighs, strands of shockingly bubblegum pink hair spilling out from under her knit hat, Sakura knew the knot in her chest was that of a distinct and powerful discomfort. One that arose from the winter's haunting breath from its gaping, yawning jaws, and laved her with not-so-ancient misery.

Like all apparent things in the widening universe, Itachi glanced down at their girlfriend when they felt the almost tangible discontent radiating off her, and Sakura knew their eyes were on her the moment they flitted over. In the midst of the sidewalk, where Christmas carols played from loudspeakers atop light fixtures and stores that smelt of peppermint coffee, Itachi rubbed circles into Sakura's hand, pressing their thumb meaningfully into the side of her hand to remind her of their presence. The sickness that swirled ominously within her stomach did not lessen, but the world around it did.

"…We're supposed to get twenty centimeters of snow," the darker haired one suddenly brought up when the expression of their girlfriend's face didn't waver. Sakura looked up briefly into the tiny flurries fluttering to the ground and the grey sky with no borders between the clouds and the atmosphere above them, all one neutral off-balance slate, no longer the multicolored spectacle of moments prior.

"Maybe they'll cancel class," she offered. A snowflake fell briefly onto her nose before melting away.

"Let's _pray_ not because I have two exams tomorrow," Itachi spoke stiffly with narrowing eyes, ones that showed their immense displeasured with the sky. Beside them, the green-eyed female giggled quietly under her breath, taking a sip of rapidly cooling hot chocolate.

When they both turned down the brightly lit street that would bring them to their joint apartment, and the snow began to pick up, Sakura threw her arm over her partner's shoulders, grateful for the lack of a height difference. Itachi pressed themselves closer to her, and Sakura was hit with the familiar scent of her longtime partner and how it curled under her nose until it wafted off to join the stars. They picked up the pace, both of their legs beginning to burn with the effort of tromping through the knee-high snow.

People continued to pass them on the sidewalks, sometimes carrying shopping bags or groceries, some wrapped up in their notebooks and textbooks as finals were soon to be upon them. The worst of it though were those who couldn't keep their eyes to themselves and felt the urge to stare unblinkingly when passing the happy couple. When eyes followed her for steps longer than she had taken, spider webs of anxiety crawled silently up her lungs and over each fleshy ridge until they were in her throat and making nests for themselves among vocal folds.

An arm snaked around her waist and tightened to hug her closer to a warm body, and when Itachi's whisper of, "don't fret, darling, there's nothing as radiant as you" gusted over her ear in remnants of zephyr, Sakura knew her spirits would brighten considerably so one day. And she thought this with confidence that could renew itself like an ecosystem up until another series of hushed voices trickled down her ear canals.

"They're such _cute boyfriends_, oh my gosh!"

She didn't see who it came from, but Sakura supposed that the speaker was not as important as the words themselves and were they ever words to contemplate on and lose sanity over. With liquid nitrogen or antifreeze or some combination of what would kill her and what she might suffer in the presence of, Sakura froze where she breathed. Itachi's arm around her tightened until their fingers were pressing into the flesh of her abdomen even through the thick fabric of her winter coat—she could feel each indenture, where skin wished to meet skin and burned for it rightly so. The world around her was a blaring cacophony of drivel, cars upchucking slush onto the sidewalks and the monotonous slow groan of background music and how it gnarled the silver lampposts, bending them over almost in half.

These sorts of remarks were more occasional than anything, but all the same, being pre-op they stung with such an aggressive ferocity that each one felt like she'd never recover entirely. As if something were damaged and would take longer than her lifetime to repair.

"She's my girlfriend, actually" was the string of words that came out higher than any other and rose into the atmosphere. Itachi's voice seemed to almost sooth any lacerations within her and whoever had spoken earlier must have apologized for she felt her partner's fingers relax against her side. From the corner of her eye, Sakura watched a group of students—possibly three or four, none distinguishable enough for her to recall from past memories—scurry off down the road, their scarves swinging behind them and one bespectacled member glancing back to stare unabashedly. Like all other instances of disbelief, the sickness that resided somewhere deep in the pits of her stomach flared up for a few seconds, but when the individual turned back around Sakura felt the breath she'd unknowingly been holding escape her.

When the words were there for all to see, Sakura felt far more naked than she had any business being in this weather. Though potentially no eyes were scrutinizing her with care and examining her for any signs of protruding breasts or rounded features or shapely thighs, it didn't lessen the anxiety. Sakura glanced around nervously for a couple of seconds and gave each nearby face a once-over just for absolute certainty, never satisfied enough to relax.

However, her partner didn't let her think on it for even a moment, pulling her along by the hold they had on her waist. If there had been anyone nosy enough to pay more than a polite amount of attention to her, they were long gone by the time Itachi removed their hand from around and slipped it into hers. It was somehow bright, as if the very act had caused fireworks to go off behind her eyelids—an early New Year's celebration, where their lips tasted like pink champagne and gingersnaps. When they pushed open the door to their lovely face, over the deep creases under their eyes, the fading scars over their pinkened cheeks and across the bridge of their nose, lips that bordered on cerise, and eyes that were still misty from the chilly air. She saw this and was overcome with so much love that it bordered on a supernova.

"Christmas is coming up and we haven't watched any Christmas movies," the temperamental girl grumbled into the quiet hallway, where she'd felt that awkwardness had taken up residence along with them. At her side, Itachi smiled with their lips alone. And when they did kiss her, sweet and lingering with all the affection of winter mist, it was no less scintillating.

"How could we have forgotten?" they inquired rhetorically to the sound of their girlfriend's commencing chatter of how hot chocolate and popcorn were to be made, Christmas tree lit up, and candles to fill the air.


End file.
